The House Guest

The knock at the door broke Don's concentration as he tried for the third time to line up the picture frame on his living room wall.

"Ellen! Sweetie, could you get the door?"

His wife's red-haired head poked around the corner from the kitchen with her lips turned down in a frown.

"I think we both know who that is, and I would rather you handle it."

Don grunted lowering the heavy frame to the floor before he squared his shoulders, and walked toward the front of the house. He did indeed know who was knocking at his front door, and he understood why his wife was reticent to be the one to answer it. They had discussed the situation at length over the last several weeks, and though she had reluctantly given in her enthusiasm for their agreed upon course of action wasn't high.

He glanced through the peephole in his heavy oak front door and sighed. The figure standing on his porch was all too familiar. He and Jack Reynolds had grown up together and attended the same state college though after graduation they had drifted apart for a while. Jack had gone into the military and spent the next six years bouncing around the world while Don had stayed in their hometown eventually taking over his father's old newspaper business. The two had been reacquainted recently when Jack had returned from overseas, and taken a position at the local fire department. At the moment, Jack was looking for a permanent place to stay, but in a small town like Farmington the options were slim. Don had convinced Ellen to let Jack stay with them while he sorted things out.

Ellen had needed quite a bit of persuasion since Jack didn't exactly have the best reputation. He was known around town as a wild child who drank more than was good for him, and often got himself into trouble. Since his return, he had shown that six years in the military had not softened his maverick tendencies as he had gotten into two notable bar fights, and been rumored to be sleeping with the wife of the town magistrate. Still, Jack was one of those men who was all charm and quick wit with an ability to talk his way out of almost any situation which was why, at least so far, he had kept himself out of jail.

The door swung open, and Don found himself on the receiving end of one of Jack's disarming smiles.

"Hey, Don! How's it going, buddy!"

"Jack...Come on in, but watch your step the threshold is loose."

Jack took a long stride avoiding the hazard while taking Don's hand in a firm shake. Don winced a bit at his old friend's powerful grip. His time in the military had made Jack Reynolds and even more formidable physical specimen than he had already been which was saying something since he had been a big, muscular kid to start. Don had to crane his neck to look up at Jack's six-foot-five-inch frame as he stared down at his more diminutive friend.

The former Farmington High School linebacker had hardly aged in Don's eyes. He still had the long blond hair that had stuck out from under his football helmet on Friday nights. His body was devoid of fat and heavily muscled with bulging biceps one of which was adorned with a raging bull tattoo. Jack was a devilishly handsome man with a glint in his steely blue eyes that hinted at the kind of trouble you could expect from being associated with him.

Don felt outclassed next to him. He had put on a bit of weight since school and had the beginnings of a middle-aged belly. His thinning hair merely added to his insecurities.

"Thanks for letting me stay here I appreciate it," said Jack with a tone that at least hinted at sincerity.

"Sure, Jack, its no problem. Hey, Ellen, come meet Jack."

Jack's eyes wandered toward the entrance to the kitchen as a petite red-haired emerged, and walked toward her and Don. He looked her up and down appraising her as he did all women. She was not his usual type. He tended toward the large voluptuous Barbie-doll kind of girls with big breasts, blond hair, and not a lot of brains. Ellen Warwick was none of those things. She stood maybe five-foot-four-inches tall with razor straight red hair that fell like a fiery waterfall down to the middle of her back. Her plain face was unadorned with makeup, but her fair skin didn't require it. She had large brown eyes that bore into him with a look that reminded him of his stern fifth-grade teacher and made him surprisingly nervous. As she drew closer, he studied her face noting the smattering of freckles on her upper cheeks that made her appear even more youthful than she was, as well as a rather lovely pair of full, light pink lips. The short summer dress she was wearing clung loosely to her slender frame with small, perky round breasts outlined against the cloth.

"Mr. Reynolds, Welcome to our home," she said formally.

"Please, call me Jack. Thank you for taking me in."

Ellen took his offered hand her tiny one vanishing into his massive paw. He noted how soft, and warm her hand felt.

"I hope you like roast I was putting one in the oven for supper," she replied with just a hint of a smile.

"Oh, I am a meat eater no worries there."

"Maybe I should show you where you can stow your stuff, Jack," offered Don.

"Sure."

Jack returned briefly to his car coming back with a couple of large duffel bags one slung over each shoulder. He followed Don down a long hallway turning into the second door down.

"This is the guest bedroom. It's all yours for as long as you need it."

The room was simple and functional with a queen-sized bed and a small chest of drawers. It had a separate bathroom with a walk-in closet in the back. Jack slung his bags onto the bed smiling as he looked around.

"This will do fine. It reminds me of the room I grew up in when I was a kid."

As the two men left the room, Jack noticed what looked like a work out room on the other side of the hall.

"Hey! Did you get yourself a home gym? It doesn't look like you've been using it though does it," said Jack smacking Don's slightly pronounced stomach with the back of his hand.

Don winced a bit, but took the ribbing in stride,"Well I've been busy lately at the paper. Feel free to use it while you're here."

The two then returned to the living room where Jack pitched in to help Don hang the picture frame he had been working on earlier.

"Your Mom and Dad?" observed Jack as the painting settled against the wall.

"Yeah. My Dad had the painting done as an anniversary gift for Mom. When he passed, she gave it to me. I think having it in the house made her sad."

"I liked your Dad. He could be a little intimidating sometimes, but he was a nice guy."

"He was all that and more. It has been difficult to follow in his footsteps around here with everyone in town knowing him. He was the face of the Farmington Tribune for four decades."

"You always knew how to turn a phrase back in school. I'll bet you do just fine."

"I suppose. Would you like a beer, Jack?"

"Does a bear drop a deuce in the woods," replied Jack with a laugh.

It was a pleasant day outside, so the two old friends took their beers, and headed out onto the wood deck in Don's backyard. Jack took a seat at a round metal table where Don joined him.

"Well...Don...Where did you meet the little woman?"

"Ellen teaches at the high school mostly English with an occasional science class thrown into the mix. I was doing a story for the paper on drug use among teens, and I interviewed her along with several other members of the faculty. We just kind of hit it off so I asked her out on a date. One thing led to another, and here we are five years later."

Ellen appeared from within the house as if she had been listening to the conversation, and realized they were talking about her. She had a beer in her hand, and joined the men at the table.

"Nice day to sit outside, huh?" commented Jack.

Ellen nodded but didn't comment on the observation. Jack got the distinct impression that Ellen was not a big fan of his, but they had just met, and he was confident he could win her over in the long run.

"So...Mr. Reynolds, I understand you had an affair with Luke Jennings wife."

Jack nearly choked on his beer. Ellen was apparently one of those blunt and to the point kind of people. Still, it took a lot more than that to take Jack Reynolds off his game. He smiled as he wiped a bit of spilled beer off his chin.

"I see you have heard stuff from the local town rumor mill. Trust me when I say the whole thing was greatly exaggerated. Karen Jennings came into the firehouse one day to drop off some cookies for all us hard working young men, and I struck up a polite conversation with her about rescue work, and what not. She wanted to hear stories about the wonderful, exciting world of firefighting so I told her a few. It was getting late, so I politely walked her back to her car. A few folks saw us together, and the way chins wag in this town it wasn't long before the word was out that we were fooling around."

"That was all there was to it?"

"Absolutely! It was a whole lot of nothing," said Jack earnestly. He didn't feel that it would help his relationship with Ellen to admit he had met Karen Jennings several times after that to recount more of his exploits, and that those meetings took place in bed with her naked.

Ellen looked less than convinced as she took a long pull from her beer. Jack squirmed under her intense gaze.

"What is it about this girl? It's like being in detention hall when I was ten-years-old," thought Jack.

"So Don tells me you two met at the school," said Jack hoping to change the subject.

"Yes, that's right. He interviewed me for a story, then asked me out."

Jack waited for more details, but it was evident none were forthcoming. It appeared that he could add very economical with her words to his list of Ellen Warwick's endearing traits. He couldn't imagine what about this woman had intrigued Don enough to want to marry her she seemed like a cold fish.

The conversation began too lag after that, and Ellen eventually excused herself to get supper on the table. Jack and Don continued to drink, and reminisce about the good old days until Ellen finally called them to come and eat.

Jack tried to score a few points with Ellen by offering to clean up the dishes afterward, and she accepted his offer. He stood at the sink rinsing off the dishes while Ellen and Don sat on the couch watching a T.V. show. The two of them hardly spoke as the story played out in front of them.

"Maybe they do belong together, their both about as exciting as a day at the laundry mat," mused Jack.

The dishwasher was humming along nicely as Jack exited the kitchen, and politely informed his new roommates he was heading out for the bar to meet some friends. He asked Don if he wanted to go with him, but he politely demurred since he had to be in early at the paper in the morning.

"Suit yourself. I'll catch you, folks, later."

"Try to stay out of trouble, Mr. Reynold's. I mean, Jack," said Ellen with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't you worry I will be the very picture of restraint."

The following morning, Jack rose from bed holding the sides of his head. He may have been a little more unrestrained the night before that he had intended to be, and he was paying for it with a nice hangover. He slipped into the bathroom, and ran the sink full of cold water splashing it into his face in an attempt to chase the sleep from his weary eyes. Thankfully, the medicine chest above the sink provided him with a dose of aspirin to calm the raging storm between his ears.

The day before Don had offered to let him use his home gym, and Jack had always found the best way to shake a hangover was to sweat it out, so he stripped down to a pair of shorts, and wrapped a towel around his shoulders proceeding across the hallway. He spent the next hour lifting weights after some vigorous stretching. His bare chest ran with sweat accentuating his well-toned physique. The weights made a soft thud as he dropped the barbells to the mat, and took a step back to catch his breath. A movement caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and he turned to his right glancing around.

The door to the room was open a crack. Jack hadn't bothered to close it all the way when he came in, and he thought he saw a flash of color, red maybe, moving away from the gap. He shrugged, and returned to his workout finishing a moment later with one last set. While walking back to his room, he saw Ellen standing at the end of the hallway getting ready to vacuum. He noted that she was wearing a red blouse. It occurred to him that she might have been watching him work out earlier.

"Perhaps she isn't a completely cold fish after all. I hope she enjoyed the show." thought Jack.

After his shower, Jack cleaned up to head out to the firehouse for his afternoon shift. Ellen had prepared him a small lunch including a roast beef sandwich from the leftovers of the previous night.

"Thanks, Ellen. That was very nice of you."

"My pleasure, Jack. It's important to keep your strength up in case you have to rescue someone," said Ellen.

Jack laughed as he left, and got in his car. He thought he saw Ellen watching him out the window as he pulled away.

The next couple of weeks went by mostly without incident. Jack slowly managed to insinuate himself into the household routine of the Warwick's domicile taking a turn or two at cooking, and trying to pitch in with the laundry. Ellen remained a somewhat distant figure, but she did seem to be thawing a little, occasionally laughing at one of Jack's ribald jokes when she wasn't admonishing him for his poor table manners. He still couldn't quite make up his mind about what he thought of Don's wife. At times she seemed like a real ice queen, and he wondered what Don ever saw in her, but at other times he thought he saw a glimpse of a different woman altogether.

The puzzle of Ellen Warwick deepened even more one bright Friday morning when Jack woke late as was his custom, and stumbled out of bed to the kitchen for some milk. He stood drinking straight from the carton, a move that would have brought a sharp rebuke from Ellen if she had seen him do it when he heard the sound of water running. Don had already left for work, and Ellen usually took her showers at night well before Jack ever went to bed, or came home for that matter. Placing the milk back into the refrigerator, Jack made his way back up the hallway to relieve himself in the restroom when he noticed that the door to the master bedroom was open just a crack.

In the time that Jack had been there, he had never seen the door anything but closed. His curiosity piqued Jack walked over to the partly opened door. The vantage point he was in gave him a decently wide view of Don and Ellen's room. It was tastefully decorated as he would have expected it to be with a mix of contemporary furnishings, and antiques, likely family heirlooms of one sort or another. He was standing there staring through the small gap and just thinking about returning to the bathroom since his bladder was starting to nag him when a door on the far side of the bedroom opened.

A slight whiff of steam billowed outward from the room beyond, and Ellen emerged in nothing but a green towel. Her hair was wet and slicked back revealing more of her face which Jack had to admit was quite attractive. She padded across the room to stand in front of a full-length mirror that stood in a corner just within Jack's range of vision. Her hands went up to the edge of her towel where she had tucked it in to keep it from coming loose. Jack froze, a part of him knew this was an invasion of Ellen's privacy, and he should head back to his room, and forget he ever saw anything. That was undoubtedly the gentlemanly thing to do, but then again Jack had never been accused of being a gentleman.

While Jack warred briefly with his sense of morality, the decision was taken from him when Ellen casually pulled at the junction in her towel, and the whole thing tumbled to the ground at her feet. The vision before him made Jack forget all about his bladder. Ellen may not have been a big chested southern belle, but she had a charm all her own. Her breasts weren't large, but they were perfectly round, and upthrust with the sweetest little pink nipples Jack had ever seen perched in a pair of wide, very bumpy areolas. His eyes moved down across her flat stomach to the light red bush between her legs that confirmed that she was a real red-head. Her slender legs were smooth, and flawless with a tight ass that looked like you could bounce a quarter off of it.

As he stood there taking it all in Ellen suddenly looked up into the mirror, and seemed to lock eyes with him in the reflection. It didn't seem possible that she could see through the narrow crack in the door where he was standing, but she wasn't moving any longer, and it sure seemed like she was looking right at him. Jack started to clear his throat, and began to search his brain for some explanation he could fall back on as to why he was standing there when Ellen dropped her gaze back to her own body. He breathed a sigh of relief, and was just about to slip quietly away from the door when things got even more interesting.

Jack felt his heart begin to race in his chest as Ellen reached one hand up to cup her left breast while the other moved down to the top of her hairy Venus mound.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," said Jack under his breath.

If the sight of Ellen Warwick's naked body had left him speechless the sight of her masturbating in front of a mirror threatened to blow his mind entirely. Her eyes shut, and he thought he heard her sigh quietly as the hand between her legs began to move in slow circular motions. Her chest started to flush turning a bit red, and the hand that was on her breast squeezed down on it making her areola expand, and her stiffening nipple jump outward. She licked her full lips as her hand moved a bit faster. The thick nipples surmounting her areolas swelled, and she pinched the one in her left hand groaning softly.

It was almost too much for Jack. This was easily one of the sexiest things he had ever seen in his life. Given that he had spent time in Bangkok that was saying something. The whole situation started to take on a surreal quality, and Jack couldn't help but reach down pulling his rapidly swelling penis through the hole in his boxers. He began to stroke his thick, hairy cock up and down almost in time to Ellen's movements like the two of them were somehow linked.

She was breathing harder now, her hand was moving between her legs even more quickly than before, and she spread her legs a bit apart so that she could slide her fingers up into her pussy as well as rub at the top of it. The other hand moved back and forth between her breasts alternately pinching her nipples, and squeezing her perky tits.

Jack's breathing was becoming more labored though he tried to minimize any noise he was making afraid of breaking the spell as well as getting caught staring at his friend's wife while she played with herself. His testicles were getting tighter, surging with his semen. He was afraid that if he came, there was no way he would be able to remain quiet yet he couldn't stop jerking his cock either.

Ellen had her head back now with her mouth hanging open, and soft moans were starting to escape from her. It looked as if she was getting close as well, and Jack was beside himself desperate to see what she looked like when she came. Things indeed appeared to be coming to a head when all of a sudden a loud noise rang out from the spare bedroom.

Jack's head snapped around when he realized his cell phone was ringing. He backpedaled quickly from the door to the master bedroom trying to get his penis back into his shorts while tip-toeing as fast as he could toward his room at the same time. He managed to slip inside pulling the door shut behind him, and grabbing his phone off the bed.